Pandemics to wildfires: When disasters become political

WASHINGTON - Washington DC woke up on Tuesday (Sept 15) to a high, thin skin of smoke from wildfires raging 3,000 miles away on the west coast - as if to underline what is at stake when complex issues are reduced to oversimplified, binary and politically driven narratives.

Air quality in five major cities in Oregon was rated "hazardous", the worst ever recorded - in some cases literally off the scale altogether, officials said - as wildfires burnt a total of some 4.5 million acres (1.8 million ha) as of Tuesday, mostly in California and Oregon as well as Washington and Idaho.